Delhi court wants changes to the state's definition of rape after 80-year-old woman was sexually abused in a park

The shocking case of an 80-year-old woman, who was violated for over an hour with a wooden stick, has prompted a Delhi court to call for a re-look at the state's definition of rape.

Bemoaning the fact that 19-year-old Pahlad could only be found guilty of 'unnatural offences' against the victim, additional sessions judge Kamini Lau demanded the government expand its definition of rape beyond sexual penetration.

'In both the cases, the offence is barbaric in nature where the victim is ravished like an animal for the fulfilment of desire and lust of another man,' the court said, asking lawmakers to consider including digital, oral, male and anal rape within the definition of the crime.

Change needed: The shocking sexual assault of an 80-year-old woman has prompted a court in Delhi, pictured, to call for a re-look at the state's definition of rape

The order comes days after a Planning Commission working group had called for the Code of Criminal Procedure Code to be made more 'woman friendly', including reconsidering legislation connected to sexual crimes.

A revised definition of rape would cover penetration by objects other than just sexual organs, including fingers, effectively turning the government's 'two-finger test' for rape victims into a crime itself, if conducted without the victim's consent.

The Planning Commission's working committee had earlier recommended the abolition of this test, calling it 'archaic' and 'degrading'.

The court's call for a re-look at the definition came as it sentenced Tri Nagarresident Pahlad to 10 years in prison, after convicting him of intercourse 'against the order of nature,' kidnapping and attempt to murder.

Pahlad's victim was an elderly, destitute woman who had been abandoned by her family and was living in a public park.

According to the police, she had been surviving on the food handed out to her by residents.

On May 22, 2011, at around 2 am, Pahlad found her in the park and dragged her to some bushes nearby.

He then sexually assaulted her with a wooden stick before fleeing the scene.

Hours later, a man found the lady unconscious and bleeding. He got the woman moved to a nearby hospital and registered a case with the police.

Once she regained consciousness, the woman was able to identify Pahlad from a parade of six suspects whom the police had picked up based on her description of the perpetrator.

During the trial, the court heard submissions from an advocate from the Delhi Commission for Women asking for the woman to be treated on a par with a rape victim.

The court, however, said current laws did not allow it and instead asked the lawmakers to reconsider the legislation which covers sexual crimes.

'Expanding the definition of rape is the crying need of the hour... The present case is an eye-opener and it is time that the legislature take a serious note of the extent of depravation which exists in the urban society, victims of which are usually small children and senior citizens,' the court said.

It noted that the law which Pahlad was charged with - Section 377 of the IPC which refers to carnal intercourse against the order of nature - doesn't cover all potential sexual crimes and is limited in application.

Pahlad was sentenced to 10 years in jail and slapped with a Rs17,000 fine - Rs15,000 of which is to be paid to the victim.

'No sensible, sane person can commit such brutality... This country needs to have zero tolerance for those who show scant respect for senior citizens and commit this kind of violence on women and children,' the court said.

It also called for the Delhi government to provide the woman with Rs50,000 in compensation, to be used for her welfare under the guidance of a welfare officer.